Mr. Nelson Galvez Agoyaoy, a Philippine history teacher for high school students of the Elementary and High School Department (EHSD) of UE Caloocan, has won one of the most prestigious and coveted academic recognitions in the country: the Metrobank Foundation Inc. (MBFI) Outstanding Teacher award!

This marks the first time that a UE teacher in the basic education level has received the Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher Award.

(The first ever UE teacher who received the award was Dr. Francisco De Guzman, back in 1989, as a UE Professor A teaching invertebrate zoology and parasitology. In 1990, he was awarded as Outstanding Professor by UE; he went on to become Associate Dean of the UE College of Arts and Sciences-Manila.)

In addition, Mr. Agoyaoy is the first MBFI Outstanding Teacher Awardee from among the Department of Education’s Division of City Schools in Caloocan City.

Mr. Agoyaoy, who had been the EHSD’s Coordinator for Student Concerns and was also UE’s Model Teacher in 2012, during the University’s 66th foundation anniversary, was a Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher Awards national finalist in 2014.

The annual MBFI search for outstanding teachers has a rigorous screening process. The search earned 534 nominations this year, reportedly the most in its 32-year history.

From there, the list was trimmed down to 127 provincial finalists, then shortlisted to 40 regional finalists who went through teaching demonstrations and panel interviews before the preliminary board of judges per category, i.e., elementary, secondary and higher education. Mr. Agoyaoy was one of 16 regional finalists in the secondary level.

After that, it was down to 20 national finalists (Mr. Agoyaoy was one of eight national finalists who are high school teachers), who appeared before the final board of judges, which was chaired by Senator Joel Villanueva and co-chaired by Rep. Romero Federico “Miro” Quimbo (2nd District, Marikina City). The panel had as members Department of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña; Court of Appeals presiding Justice Roman Del Rosario; Cebu Governor Hilario “Jun-jun” Davide III; the Ambassador of India to the Philippines, His Excellency Lalduhthlana Ralte, the New Era University President, Dr. Nilo Rosas; and inquirer.net Editor in Chief and Philippine Daily Inquirer Opinion Editor and senior journalist John Nery.

The 10 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher Awardees of 2016 are comprised by four elementary teachers, four high school teachers and two college teachers. Mr. Agoyaoy’s three fellow secondary-level awardees hail from Negros Occidental High School in Bacolod City, Muntinlupa National High School, and Nueva Vizcaya General Comprehensive High School.

The formal awarding ceremony for Mr. Agoyaoy and his nine fellow 2016 MBFI Outstanding Teacher awardees will be held on September 5, 2016, in Malacañang, to be led by President Rodrigo R. Duterte.

The 10 Outstanding Teachers will be presented together with the 2016 awardees of the Country’s Outstanding Police Officers in Service and the Outstanding Philippine Soldiers, all collectively known as the Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipinos.

Per Teacher Nelson, the September 5 awarding ceremony will be part of a recognition week for the awardees from September 2 to 12, where they are slated to visit the Senate and the House of Representatives and be part of a media conference and presentations.

Mr. Agoyaoy and his fellow awardees each received a congratulatory letter regarding their Outstanding Teacher Award simultaneously last Friday, July 29.

Handing the congratulatory letter for Mr. Agoyaoy at the Dr. Lucio C. Tan Building in UE Caloocan were Mr. Allan Reyes of Metrobank Foundation and Mr. Felipe Pera, the Branch Manager of Metrobank’s Samson Road, Caloocan City branch, in the presence of UE EHSD Principal Marilou S. Alonzo (see photo).

As a Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher Awardee, Mr. Agoyaoy will receive a medallion, a trophy and a cash prize of P500,000—P50,000 of which he will earmark for the faculty grant project of the UE Caloocan EHSD Faculty Club, of which he is President.

He and his fellow awardees also automatically become members of the Network of Outstanding Teachers and Educators (NOTED), the alumni group of Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Teacher Awardees which includes Dr. Evelina M. Vicencio, the Dean of the UE College of Education and a former NOTED President. Mr. Agoyaoy’s and his fellow awardees’ induction into NOTED will be held during an international conference of the group on October 3 to 5.

Big, big congratulations to Mr. Nelson G. Agoyaoy as well as to the UE EHSD! Your UE community is mighty proud of you, Outstanding Warrior Teacher!